Cultural capital is only for the wealthy...

[Explodingatomickittens]

I feel that the kids who are really gaining cultural (& on another level social capital) are from wealthy families. I know people will reply that there's lots of free events on all over the UK daily. In my experience these spots are always nabbed by the mc also. Due to covid & cost of living crisis the gap is widening between tremendously between the haves & the have nots. It's very sad.

That was my parents. They brought us up to think that cultural activities were ‘only for rich people’, and were afraid of looking ‘above themselves’. We lived not far from the university and they thought you had to pay even to go in and walk in the grounds. I now work at that university and do outreach stuff in schools, and have spent my adult life indulging a love of opera and the visual arts — helped by spending ten years in London, skint, but with the time and flexibility to queue from dawn for cheap ROH/ NT day tickets etc.

I despise the ‘cultural capital as a key to social mobility’ approach, if I’m honest. I didn’t go to the opera in order to fit in with middle-class people.

They did buy they weren't aristos... @TheaBrandt@TheaBrandt

We were poor growing up on a rough council estate. Our parents gave us cultural capital - they took us to the library, we watched plays, concerts and ballet on tv. We had a few precious classical albums and we were taken into London to see all the landmarks and we regularly went to free museums. When they could afford it we went to see amateur theatre. They taught us to behave and made sure we knew how to sit at a table and eat. Finally, they encouraged us all to work hard at school. Cultural capital isn’t the preserve of the wealthy.

We weren't wealthy growing up but parents definitely MC (there is a difference). I went to a lower end university but remember the feeling of having been given MC advantages by my parents - occaisonal theatre trips, a house full of second hand books, being exposed to food from different cultures, being taught gardening and local history by my dad, holidays were camping but we went to places with castles and museums and costal walks. Friends with similar financial backgrounds went on package holidays to spain where they didn't leave the hotel and ate English food all day. Not knocking this if that's how you want to relax BTW, each to their own, and at the time I probably would have preferred a week in the sun playing in the pool with other British kids than trudging round another rainy Cornish Castle.

I am not wealthy now but still have this (for want of a better word) MC mindset that my disposable income usually goes towards educational and cultural experiences. Maybe I need to bite the bullet and take them to spain!

Thing is though often something like a love of theatre starts young and develops as children get older. My toddlers have loved things like Peppa pig live. Obviously not at all high brow but it has meant they were used to sitting down and listening and understanding the theatre rules. My eldest has now been to a few west end shows and loves it. And when she’s a bit older we’ll progress to plays. Mine will have grown up with it in a way I didn’t. It probably feels very different if the first thing you’ve ever seen is on a school trip as a one-off.

@Bunnycat101 That's very true. I think the same about religion. It baffles me when parents say they won't let their children go to church until they are old enough to decide. They won't feel at ease or have any experience by then! Of course we shouldn't indoctrinate them but exposure to different experiences and situations is important.

@Trofie I agree!

However now I'm older I see it just makes for more interesting conversation.i work in a large flexible office and those who seem without it have a very different conversation style to those who do.
I'd rather talk about nice stuff than moan or chat constant netflix.
I've also noticed that those who seem more educated are more libral and thoughtful and forgiving than those who are not educated as well.

I’m a teacher and dont necessarily think of cultural capital as going to events etc. I think if you pass onto your children an appreciation of culture through reading and just being interested in ideas and culture you are doing them a real favour. I think it’s an attitude rather than going to the ballet and it’s accessible for most.

@PicklesAndTequila

A long time ago families were larger, had fewer resources eg outside loo,many DC in one bed, one bath a week, no washing machine and they managed to get piano lessons, violin lesson, reading....

And you can still get them interested if they don't read like exposing them to classic films, theatre etc.

Think they did more in the past as there were less other options to fill your time. No tv or crap tv but no internet leaves an awful lot more spare time…As a child / teen . I read literally every book in my parents house (there were many) and pretty much most of those in the local library too!

We live in a deprived area but with pockets of culture and wealth. There are actually loads of museums and galleries, historic buildings, beautiful wild country. We're in a region where 'levelling up' is being pushed very hard, consequently many cultural events locally have free/cheap sessions for under 25s. But it won't work if families don't encourage their kids to access what's available. Many families would rather spend £1000 on a weekend somewhere like Alton Towers. Which is fine. But it then becomes generational/cultural that people don't access the culture that is available.

I work with a couple of people who have never visited the cathedral six miles down the road, never been to the historical property in our town (free to those with local postcodes), don't use the library etc. They're not short of money, it would just never cross their mind to take part in such activities.

Cultural capital is one of these new things, what does it even mean? Why does anyone worry about it? I would be more concerned about people spending money on drink and drugs rather than looking after their kids properly

We live near a major and beautiful amazing city,many locals haven't been or go to one spot and that's it

Like many things these days it's all about the parents. Their are things there that are free if you want to/are motivated to do them. Never had there been so much free stuff available but never before have people bleated so much about how 'unfair' life is.

There are people who sit and ask others what is going to be done to narrow the gap, increase the amount of free stuff, ensure their kids get first dibs. Then there are those who just get on with it, are creative in what they do and take advantage of every opportunity. In many cases this takes effort. BTW I am not talking here about those children who unfortunately come from chaotic and/or struggling households because they really are the ones missing out on opportunities, you know the ones where children are carers etc. They aren't moaning about all those pesky mc parents, they are just getting through the day.

I am surprised at the number of people on here who equate skiing with cultural capital. I dont know, maybe it can be, if you are not in a English speaking conclave - I would never have thought of it as that though

Also, I suspect this repeated meme of middle class mums getting all the culture... I dont expect it is because they are "middle class" that they have access to culture, I expect it's the other way around - I expect that it's because they have accessed culture that they are considered "middle class"

It costs nothing to go to a library, get some books, CDs and read to your kids about anything form art, fashion, design and get them to listen to different styles of music.

Charity shops have stuff you can use to draw or paint.

There are usually art, craft and theatres activities organised for kids at community centre and cultural venues that are free to take part in.

As many have said a lot of museums and galleries are free to visit. Lots of stuff as well to view online (The BBC iplayer for example) about art, music and architecture.

So no, I would say the most important factor is the fact that parents are interested in their kids education and play an active role in developing their knowledge, not money.

It doesn’t need to be anymore with the Internet. Most famous museums worldwide now allow you to do a virtual tour, eg Hermitage in St Petersburg. Lots of amazing classical music is live streamed if you sign up. Tons of amazing stuff is available for free on You Tube - it is about knowing where to look and encouraging that. Head teachers could easily send links from primary school onwards in their weekly newsletter. Trouble is that some parents don’t read the newsletter ever or don’t read to or with their children or even have a proper conversation with them. That is the issue. Children from poorer backgrounds with parents who value education and cultural capital still do well, you just need to look at a typical driven immigrant family.

Oh thank you, I didn't know about that. I'll add it to our rotation of subscriptions.
We watched quite a bit of their stuff in lockdown because it was free.

@Bunnycat101 that's a very good example. Just learning behaviours & etiquette. Church is also great for this.

Skiing itself is not cultural capital but going to the Alps and properly experiencing that mountain range or the Rocky Mountains or Machu Picchu is. However, you can also go to the Scottish Highlands, the Lake District, the Peak District, the Scilly Islands. It is amount understanding that there are different landscapes and experiencing some of that. Primary schools used to make a big deal of taking children to the seaside for this reason and that is why seaside was a topic on the national curriculum. Might still be. My DC also learnt about Van Gogh and Impressionist Artists in Year 1 (From memory). One DC had to correct the NQT teacher as she could not recognise the Van Gogh.

I think the most important part of cultural capital is children, teens and adults actually realising their own situation/understanding their own perspective, cultural influences so that they can appreciate that others have it differently, both locally and all over the world.
But yes, the children of middle class parents tend to study some Latin for a reason and learn an instrument and at least one foreign language and do an exchange and learn about the world wars properly - those are the type of middle class markers in England that are easy to spot.
Middle class parents also push for gap years because they can afford it but also because they want their DC to understand what it is actually like to live elsewhere because with that comes perspective and culture.

Skiing itself is not cultural capital but going to the Alps and properly experiencing that mountain range or the Rocky Mountains or Machu Picchu is.

I’d say you have this completely wrong!

Of course skiing is cultural capital! It’s an experience you trade. As someone indicated above - all the sifting and filtering of Freshers’ Week is based on people sorting out who is their sort - who has grown up with the same experiences, suggesting similar levels of influence, connectivity, freedom, ability to build a certain type of future. No one cares about your poetic feelings on seeing a snow capped mountain - they just want to know whether your family skies.

But yes, generally cultural capital depends on being comfortable in a variety of situations and therefore able to capitalise on social connectedness - rather than avoiding situations because they’re terrifyingly unfamiliar.

@MetaDaughter i agree with you regarding the skiing. It's an expensive sport that only the wealthy (at least in the U. K) can access. It's also seen as a class marker in the U. K.
Our dc are in a state school with a wide demographic catchment. Ds1 is having his bday party during the Feb half term. 5 kids from his class can't make it as they're away skiing. Incidently these are the wealthiest families & also those kids are in the top sets..

journals.umcs.pl/lrp/article/download/13131/9906
Here is a good open access article which touches on the original definition by Bordieu of cultural capital in an easily understandable manner.
“Bourdieu (1978) used the concept of cultural capital to explain differential educational outcomes. He developed the concepts of habitus and field to explain social differences. Habitus refers to the intellectual dispositions inculcated through the family environment and by social interactions with other people in daily life. Field signifies how people settle into a social position as a result of society’s resolution over what is considered valued and worthy culture. Although ultimately this resolution can be arbitrary, the result is that culture can be viewed as legitimate or illegitimate (Bourdieu, 1978). Thus, people will defer, through a process of social construction, to what cultural artifacts and practices are more valued by society as opposed to those which are less valued. This presents culture in three forms: objective, embodied and institutionalised. Objective refers to cultural goods, books, and works of art; embodied refers to language, mannerisms, preferences; and institutionalised refers to qualifications, education credentials.”

This is also quite interesting “Differences between the North and South include regional investment, economic growth, earnings, and health inequalities, as well as differential educational outcomes. For example, a child qualifying for free school meals in Hackney, London, is three times more likely to attend university than a child growing up in Hartlepool under similar economic circumstances. Also, pupils in the South are 40% more likely to achieve top grades at 16 years old than those in the North of England, and young people in the North are significantly underrepresented at the top universities of Oxford and Cambridge (UK2070 Commission, 2020”